‘No excuse for what happened’: Ursula condemns failure to protect WA inmate from assault after $150K verdict

A federal jury in Tacoma awarded former inmate Mozzy Clark $150,000 after she sued over allegations that staff failed to protect her from a cellmate at Washington’s women’s prison in Gig Harbor. The jury found corrections officer Gregory Brooks liable but ruled in favor of the other officer named at trial.

On “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin supported holding staff accountable and called for the same concern for incarcerated people, regardless of who is involved in an assault.

“If someone’s in prison and there’s an inmate and it tells officers that they feel unsafe and something is happening to them, it needs to be taken seriously,” Gee said.

“There’s no excuse for what happened,” Ursula said.

Gee calls for taking inmates’ complaints seriously

During the segment, Ursula described Clark’s account of being placed in a cell with Christie Williams, a transgender inmate transferred from a men’s prison. Clark said she begged staff to move her to another cell, but officers laughed off her complaints and told her the only way out was to go on suicide watch. Clark said she later woke up to find Williams’ hand down her pants.

Gee returned to Ursula’s earlier call to “keep that same energy.”

“What I mean is, keep that same energy regardless of who’s involved,” Gee said. “I’m glad they did the right thing with this, no doubt about it.”

Ursula discussed the case’s focus on the conduct of individual corrections officers.

“Instead of just going for the state, it’s actually looking to the actual corrections officers themselves,” Ursula said.

Ursula questions attention to other prison conditions

Ursula then questioned whether public concern about Clark’s case extends to other incarcerated people.

“This story has gotten a ton of attention, and just think about it, when was the last time most people cared about what goes on in prison?” Ursula asked.

“If you really cared what happened when people are incarcerated, you would care about the conditions at many private prisons where people are living in horrific conditions,” she added.

Ursula distinguished punishment for a crime from the treatment people receive while incarcerated.

“That was a person who did something horrible and needs to be put away for that crime,” Ursula said. “And I totally agree with that. But when I say have that same kind of energy, it’s like, why do you only care because it was a trans person who was committing these horrible acts?”

Ursula addresses treatment of transgender people

When Gee asked why the topic drew such a strong response from her, Ursula discussed public attention toward transgender people.

“The trans community has become the boogeyman for 2026,” Ursula said. “The amount of time and energy people put into demonizing this community, I would say, is just so outsized.”

She also questioned the prison’s placement decision, citing the history of violence described earlier in the segment.

“With the history that Christie Williams had of assaulting women, you’re asking for trouble,” Ursula said. “But again, what about the trans people who are also attacked? Does anybody care about them when that happens?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio.